Rule 26

Rule 26 - Not proofread, please ignore any mistakes, I'll fix them in the final edit.

"What are you doing here?" Dev demanded, following Jackson into the living room. Jackson was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking over my shoulder at the door.

"Is Ash here?" he asked, ignoring my cousin.

"No," I said simply and folded my arms over my chest. If he had showed up to deliver another threat, I was almost certain that Dev would punch him.

"Where is he?" he asked. Dev grunted.

"None of your business. What do you want?" Jackson groaned and shrugged, looking straight at me.

"This shit is serious. I am not getting involved with murder, sabotage or man slaughter. I don't want anything to do with it," Jackson explained and I felt my stomach hit my feet. We knew this guy was serious, but hearing it come from his mouth made it all seem real.

"Then tell us who you're working for," I pushed, but he shook his head.

"Bullshit. You don't come in here and say you're not having anything to do with it, when you're all but sealing his fate," Dev spat and moved aside, pointing to the door. "Just get out."

Jackson stood his ground, meeting my eyes with his piercing blue ones.

"If he races, there will be absolute mayhem," he warned. I shrugged helplessly.

"You're preaching to the choir. We don't want him to race, but he's going to. The only way you can help us is by telling us who you work for," I said.

"I can't, because I don't know," he argued, scratching the nape of his neck. I frowned and Dev met my eyes with the same incredulous look I was giving him.

"You don't know?" I echoed.

"No. I provide a service where I do dirty work for other people. I don't meet the client, they don't meet me, so we don't get each other in trouble." I raised both of my eyebrows and narrowed my eyes.

"Then you deserve to get in trouble if something goes down. How many other lives have you helped wreck?" I spat.

"And to think I came here to help you out," he retorted, folding his arms over his chest. One of my eyebrows quirked, while Dev just huffed.

"You came here to save your own skin," he corrected. "But if you have information, don't keep it to yourself." Jackson looked at us both, seemingly contemplating before nodding.

"He has several back up plans. I've been told to put these three metal rods," he explained, holding them up to show us. "Inside the exhaust, the engine and the brakes. When the three ends meet, there will be some kind of electric currency passed through the bike and your boyfriend." I nodded at his words, ignoring the twist of dread in my chest.

"You said several back up plans," Dev pushed, sounding bored.

"Yeah. He wants this done, some kind of shitty revenge," Jackson started. "If that doesn't work, he has someone on the inside that works at the garage, he knows what to do when the bike comes in after the first race. I haven't been told what, but I know that he has someone else in on it," he told us.

"And if both of those fail?" I asked.

"He's got another racer on side, he's paying him to knock him out of the race." I nodded in thanks and cracked my knuckles nervously. Dev looked anxious as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Are you actually putting those things in there?" my cousin asked. Jackson shrugged.

"I've got to. If I don't, he'll know I've opened my mouth."

Jackson shoved his hands in his pockets and mumbled his goodbye, but I grabbed his elbow before he could leave.

"You said revenge?" I asked. He nodded. "What for?" I enquired. Jackson shrugged.

"Don't know. I know the guy went through a rough patch when he was a kid, lost a parent or some shit." He didn't stick around any longer than that, he quietly excused himself as we muttered our thanks.

I sat down on the sofa and chewed the inside of my lip.

"Dev, what happened to the other biker?" I asked. My cousin looked at me blankly until I explained that I meant the one that crashed with Ash's father.

"He died in hospital. Internal bleeding," Dev told me sadly, running his hand up and down his arm.

"Did he have any kids?" I questioned. Dev shrugged but his eyes lit up.

"You might be onto something," he said. I smiled and got to my feet, grabbing the notes that were still folded up on the sideboard.

"You hit the internet, I'm going back down to the bar to see if anyone knows anything," I explained.

I left the block of flats and started off down the road, trying to repeat the events of the past few weeks in my head. It wasn't until I got to the bar that Sid greeted me for the first time, wishing me a happy birthday.

Matt and Sid put some money together to get me a driving lesson.

"Thank you," I said as I slid in behind the bar. It was then that Nate emerged from the stock room and shot me a smile.

"Nobody told me it was your birthday. Sorry the card is so crappy, I had to get it this morning," he said, handing me a white envelope. I thanked him and moved to sit on one of the bar stools. As it wasn't my shift, I had to get out from behind the bar and talk to everyone from the other side.

"How was the week in hell?" Sid asked, serving me a drink with a sly grin. "You're legal now," she added. I smiled and ran my finger around the rim of the shandy.

"Literally hell. My mum was alright, but Mel was a bitch and my dad is still trying to make me go to business school," I grumbled with an irritated scoff.

"Business school?" Nate interjected with a frown. I nodded in response, trying to get the envelope open.

"Yeah, he thinks he can control every element of my life. My leaving was basically letting the dickhead know he can't." Nate's brows furrowed and Matt's nose scrunched up.

"Think yourself lucky, some of us don't have parents to look out for us," Nate replied, a slightly sour tone to his voice. I winced, giving him an apologetic look.

"If you've lost someone, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offence," I said. Nate shook his head with a small smile. Sid was watching the exchange anxiously and Matt was rapping his knuckles on the bar.

"It's fine. It was a long time ago," he dismissed and looked over his shoulder. Ash's mother had come out of her office and was shooting the boys an irritated glance.

"How many times?" she exclaimed. Matt and Nate jumped, apologising as they all but ran back into the storeroom to get back to work.

I gently prised the envelope open and looked at the colourful pattern on the front of the card. As soon as I opened it, I froze. The writing on the inside was remarkably similar, if not exactly the same, as the writing on the very first note we received. I did my very best to smile at Sid and shout my thanks through the door to Nate. He responded with a quick 'you're welcome'.

"Did I upset him?" I whispered, feeling my stomach roll around at what I'd seen in the card. Sid shook her head.

"Nah, we all just try to keep it out of the conversation. His dad died in a bike crash when Nate was only young," she whispered back and my eyes widened.

"Oh, I'm an idiot," I quickly excused but she chewed on her lip.

"It's fine, just forget about it."

Without much hesitation, I left the bar and called Ash. He picked up immediately and I could hear that he was either in a shop or in a cafe.

"I need to see you," I said, glancing over my shoulder.

"Now?" he asked.

"I'll get on that bloody bike if I have to, I'm outside the bar, walking towards the cafe," I told him and hung up. Ash appeared on his bike about five minutes later with a curious expression.

He handed me the helmet but I shook my head, giving him an incredulous look.

"You don't think I actually meant that, did you?" I asked. He rolled his eyes and put the helmet under his arm.

"I should've known," he mumbled to himself. "Rule 26, no lies," he added with a small smirk.

I walked him away from the pub and towards a small cafe on the other side of the street. Ash just grabbed a couple of empty mugs from the table next to us, so we didn't have to buy any drinks and gently kicked my shin.

"Come on then, what is it?" he asked. I put the card on the table and checked over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming in.

"I know who's messing with your bike," I whispered. He stiffened and then leaned forwards.

"Who?"

"Nate." He frowned and shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said but I put my card and the notes down on the table.

"I'll present the evidence, shall I?" I asked. He just blinked and me and smirked.

"This suddenly got all CSI like," he chided.

"Shut up," I told him with a smile. "First of all, look at the hand writing," I said, sliding my papers forwards. "Also, Jackson came to the flat this afternoon and told us about the sabotage, he also said it was for some kind of revenge," I explained.

"Revenge for what?" Ash asked. His voice was quiet as he looked over the papers and frowned.

"His dad died when he was thirteen, a motorbike crash," I replied. Ash's head snapped up and he gave me an incredulous look. "Dev said that the guy your dad crashed with died, what if this is some kind of sick revenge?" I pushed.

"He never said anything about his dad. I've known him for years," Ash mumbled, almost to himself.

"And, the guy that called my parents from the college was called Nathaniel who claimed to be my tutor wasn't real. I checked my papers, my tutor was called Matthew Davis. What is Nate short for?" I asked.

"Nathaniel," Ash repeated, looking at me in shock. He was about to get up, clearly enraged.

"Ash, think about this for a moment," I said, yanking on his hand to get him to sit back down.

"Think about what? How I'm going to bash that slimy little weasel's head in?" he snarled. I flinched at the harsh sound of his voice. When he noticed this, he sat down and sighed. "Sorry," he added.

"It's fine. I'm just saying, surely there's a tactical way to go about this?" I offered. Ash shook his head.

"No. We can't go to the police, if I hit him, I'll get arrested," he listed, but I cut him off before he could continue.

"Jackson said that he had contacts in the garage and in the races."

"I'll bet you it's Ry," Ash grunted.

"He was attacked too, remember?" I clarified.

"It wasn't fitting the pattern. If it is for the crash my dad had, what does that have to do with Ryder?" I nodded at his point. It made sense. But what didn't make sense was the extra handwriting.

We may have worked one of them out, but unless Nate had a revengeful younger sibling or more contacts than we originally thought, it was going to be a lot harder to sort the issue out. Even if Ash went and knocked the guy's brains out, the inevitable would still happen on Saturday.

The only way we could think to sort the issue was sneakily, without Nate knowing that we were onto him. While we had Jackson onside, it would be easier to find out what he was up to, and put a stop to it before it blew both Ash, and his bike, up.

For those who seem to have forgotten Nate: He worked at the bar at Ash's mother's party. He invited Sid and Alex to his house party, where Ash carried her home while she was drunk. He also works at the little cafe where Jackson met Alex and where Alex stayed while skipping college.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter. Dedication for the lovely banner on the side. Please vote and comment your thoughts. Very few of you put this together, I feel a bit like Agatha Christie, creating the air of mystery.... ;) Any-who, let me know whatcha think!

Until next time, wattpadians!